What the end of Google Sync means to you
If you use Google’s services for email, calendars, and contacts, you're probably aware that there are several different ways to access your data. You can use your favorite browser to access the Web interface. If you prefer dedicated Mac or iOS client app, you can use any that work with the industry-standard IMAP or POP protocols to access email, with CalDAV to access calendars, or with CardDAV to access contacts. On iOS devices, you've also had the option of using Google Sync—Google’s implementation of the Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync protocol—for all those kinds of data.
Even though Google supports such open standards such as IMAP, CalDAV, and CardDAV for its mail, calendaring, and contacts services, you might have opted to use Exchange ActiveSync instead for two main reasons. First, it offered one-step setup: You enter your credentials once, and your email, calendars, and contacts were all set up at once, with no further fuss. Second, Exchange ActiveSync offered push delivery of email; if you're using IMAP to access Gmail on an iOS device, you've had to settle for fetching email either manually or on a schedule (every 15 minutes, say).
To sync Google Contacts with your iOS device, you must set up a separate CardDAV account that uses your Gmail credentials.
However, Google recently announced that—as part of its “winter cleaning”—it will be discontinuing Google Sync for consumers effective January 30, 2013. So what might the loss of Google Sync mean to you? Google offers a helpful FAQ on the subject, but I’ll run down the highlights.
First the good news: Most iOS users won’t even notice the disappearance of Google Sync. For one thing, all email, calendar, and contact data will remain intact after January 30, and you’ll still be able to use email, calendars, and contacts via the Web interface as you always have.
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http://www.macworld.com/article/2022321/what-the-end-of-google-sync-means-to-you.html
